Simon

Who was Simon (the Zealot)?
Notes by Thomas Madron

Simon the Zealot (also called Simon the Eager One), one of the Twelve Apostles. In the Gospels of Mark and Matthew, he bears the surname "the Cananaean," often wrongly interpreted to mean "from Cana" or "from Canaan." Rather, the Greek word from which the name is derived, "Kananaios," is a transliteration of an Aramaic word meaning "the Zealot," the title given him by Luke in his Gospel and in Acts. It is uncertain whether Simon was one of the group of Zealots, the Jewish nationalistic party before A.D. 70. The titles may simply have been an attempt to distinguish him from the Apostle St. Simon Peter. A feast day is celebrated for Simon on October 28 in the Roman Catholic Church and on May 10 by the Coptic Church.

On the various New Testament lists of the Twelve Apostles (Matthew 10:2-4; Mark 3:16-19; Luke 6:14-16; Acts 1:13), the tenth and eleventh places are occupied by Simon and by Judas of James, also called Thaddaeus or Lebbaeus ("Judas" in New Testament contexts corresponds to "Judah" in Old Testament ones). Some ancient Christian writers say that Simon and Jude (Thaddaeus) went together as missionaries to Persia, and were martyred there. If this is true, it explains, to some extent, the lack of historical information on them and also why they are often paired with one another.

Simon is not mentioned by name in the New Testament except on the lists of Apostles. Some modern writers have used his surname as the basis for conjectures associating him, and through him Jesus and all Jesus' original followers, with the Zealot movement described by Josephus (ca. A.D. 37 - ca. 100, Jewish historian under patronage of emperors Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian, wrote History of the Jewish War, Antiquities of the Jews, among other books), a Jewish independence movement devoted to assassination and violent insurrection. However, there were many movements that were called Zealot, not all alike, and Josephus tells us (Jewish War 4,3,9) that the movement he is describing did not arise until shortly before the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D.

It is uncertain where Simon preached following Pentecost. According to the Greeks, he preached on the Black Sea, in Egypt, Northern Africa, and Britain. Abyssinians note Samaria, and, as was suggested above, there are some legends that Simon labored in Persia with Thaddeus (Jude). Yet another tradition places Simon in Iberia (Republic of Georgia). Although we obviously do not know the extent of Simon's travels, it is clear that early in church history it was thought that he traveled widely as his part of the effort of the original twelve to spread the Gospel.

It is assumed by many that Simon was martyred, and several places claim the honor of the location of that martyrdom. The possible places are Suanir (Persia, where, according to the legend, Simon and Jude were found guilty of overturning statues of idols and their throats were cut, though according to another version, Simon was sawn in two, like the prophet Isaiah). Other possibilities are Colchis (an ancient country bordering on the Black Sea south of the Caucasus Mountains, an area now in the western part of the Republic of Georgia), or Weriosphora in Iberia (an ancient country of Transcaucasia, roughly the eastern part of present-day Republic of Georgia). An Abyssinian tradition relates that Simon suffered crucifixion as the Bishop of Jerusalem. On the other hand, according to St. Basil the Great, the 4th-century Cappadocian Father, Simon died peacefully at Edessa (northern Greece).

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